About the Book

The cover photo of Hualalai was taken earlier that morning from Waikoloa Village before I joining the tour at HAWAII FOREST & TRAIL just north of Kailua-Kona. You can see that the summit was clear at that time. Later the clouds moved in for a very surreal effect - misty and mysterious. I had been to the summit one time before in the summer of 1966 with an NDEA Institute class out of the University of Hawaii-Manoa.

Michael F. O'Brien lived and worked in Seoul, Korea from August of 1963 to June of 1997. He grew up on a dairy farm in the beautiful wooded hills of northeast Iowa. At age twenty-four he left the corn fields of Iowa for the rice paddies of Korea. Those rice paddies fascinated and excited him with their ever-changing patterns and through them he learned, also, to love the Iowa corn fields he had left behind. He is a retired art and photography teacher from Seoul American High School in Yongsan, 8th U.S. Army, in Seoul, Korea.
Mr. O'Brien's credits include Far-Reaching Fragrance - Photographs of Korea, a collection in coffee table book form of photographic insights into traditional Korea. He has also co-authored a high school photography text, The Photographic Eye - Learning To See With A Camera.
1984 - John F. Kennedy Center Fellow for Teachers of the Arts.

3 Comments

Col Ellis
No wonder you've chosen to live in Hawaii Michael, you got some great shots of the geology and landscape, including the flora...

2011-01-21

kcook06
Mr O, I love this book, you take such fantastic photographs. i especially love the textures, you manage to capture them so beautifully and with such detail. Great job as always!Kathy Boys

2011-01-10

Kate Brackett
Michael, thank you for your generous comments about my Tanzania and Yellowstone books. I would definitely like to see those Tanzania slides of yours and hope you will make them into a book. I'm enjoying looking at your books gradually, due to having a very slow Internet connection. You have quite a fascinating collection!